The present invention relates to a microwave radiator for use in an oven in which a housing forms an oven heating chamber adjacent a radiation chamber containing an element capable of transmitting energy to an object placed in said heating chamber with a high degree of efficiency.
Known ovens of this type suffer the disadvantage that irregularities in the resultant field pattern lead to the requirement for undesirably long treatment times. In addition, the oven heating chamber extends to a distance greater than a wave-length and thus forms resonant cavity for the radiation, so that standing waves exist and penetrate the object to cause uneven heating.
These disadvantages are to a certain extent eliminated by the use of an input device as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,133 which relates to an arrangement with a special antenna radiation chamber coupled to an oven heating chamber.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of such known input devices (applicators), comprising a simpler, more compact radiator assembly which affords greater possibilities of being adapted to different loads and oven cavities than is possible with known radiator assemblies.